unbeaten path
by kimkim94
Summary: MugenxYatsuha. JUST READ TO FIND OUT
1. Chapter 1

I haven't uploaded for a LONG time.. hope ya like.

**I DON"T OWN CHAMPLOO**

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It was a hot day, the sun glaring down on Japan and it's people. InNaniwa the people wondered about, doing business as usual. The Owner ofa shop known for it's quality goods, but also for it's being involvedwith a Yakuza member or two, was going grand as always. The daythankfully died down quick, night was now on the city.

Off in a level below the shop a large room was filled with people, amixture of villagers and Yakuza, all of them yelling and cheering atmadly as they sat in long bleaches around a large walled over square.In the center two men stood, swords pressed against the other's, deepgrimaces on their faces as they glared at one another.

With a loud clang the two broke away, shooting back before coming to astop and charging in. The crowd yelled out as they watched them fly ateach other until... _SLICE!_The two men stumbled past one another and took a breath, sadly theshort one the left fell to the ground, his blood pooling beneath him.

"The winner again," came a booming voice over the hushed crowd,"Shintaka " With a boom the crowd came to life, Shintaka was thecurrent fan favorite and had drawn in a decent bit of money.

After he left and the loser was drawn away the announcer coughed a bit,"Now if you'd please... The next match will be between Kaijomura, whohas a record of 15 wins with zero loses..." A man appeared in the ringthrough a drawn door that closed behind him. He was fairly tall, a longkatana in his hand with no sheath, he held it instead over his rightshoulder. His hair was long and dark, his eyes much the same, and hisclothes nothing more then a dull grey hakama and kimono.

"And the challenger, with a record of 2 wins and no losses," said theannouncer looking over to the opposite side of the ring, "Mugen "

A hand poked through the door before it was thrown open, through itwalked a man with bushy black hair that seemed to stand and puff out,whiskers about his jaw line, his eyes a dark color. He wore oddclothing, his wide-legged hakama cut off near his knee, his crimson toptied across his chest, his geta having metal soles. On his back a greysheath held what could only be described as a claymore.

His pink finger was digging lightly into his nostril as the door wasclosed behind him, "Hm? Oh... Yeah I almost forgot." Pulling hisfinger out he flicked it at his opponent and smirked as his right handshot up to take hold of his sword.

"Bastard," Kaijomura hissed as he charged at Mugen, the crowd burstinginto cheers. His sword waved back before coming crashing downvertically at where Mugen was, though he was there no longer.

Standing beside Kaijomura Mugen smirked, his sword being torn from it'ssheath and coming down. The poor sap barely made it out in time, hiskimono having it's arm cut open as he leapt back, his sword beingripped out of the ground in the mean time. Slipping back a bit Mugengave a laugh, "I knew you couldn't handle that long sword."

"Can't handle it?" Kaijo swung the sword about before be broke into acharge for Mugen. He lashed out, Mugen ducking under the blade andshooting in close, the claymore dragging behind him as his eyes focusedon the man's side where he would attack.

He was gone though, Kaijo had stabbed his sword into the ground andforced it straight up so he was no a few feet off the ground, his legpopping out at Mugen. "Shit," cursed the former Pirate as he fell back,spinning around quickly and thrusting a foot hard into the warrior'ssword.

With no support it began to fall towards Mugen, Kaijomura followingsuit. He turned his head to look at Mugen only to receive a geta to theface, an imprint of Mugen's foot planted in his face. When he came topush himself off the ground Mugen was already some bit away, messing uphis hair out of boredom.

"Bastard Don't ignore me," yelled out Kaijomura as he waved his swordabout, the sound of it cutting through the air surrounding him. Hefinished in a position for a thrust, the blade face down since itseemed Mugen liked to keep low. If he tried to duck under the attack asKaijomura knew he would, the sword would come down, cutting him inhalf. And so he charged on.

Mugen cast a glance off to the side, the warrior charging at him,yelling at the top of his lungs. Turning to face him Mugen suddenlywore a smirk as he held his sword tightly in his head and narrowed hiseyes. Kaijomura came within distance and thrust his sword hard atMugen, and brought it down quickly to cut at him.

Too bad Mugen was up in the air, a geta flying off his foot andslamming into Kaijomura's face, his head tilting back as it flippedaway. His eyes blurred slightly before snapping back into focus onMugen who was coming down at him, his sword flipped and facingKaijomura now. For a moment Kaijomura met Mugen's eyes, in them he sawsomething... it was beastly, wild... uncontrollable.

A Vicious scream filled the basement as Mugen's sword passed right bythe man's leg, cut through his side vertically and cut through thefront of his knee. Falling to his knees Kaijomura let his sword go,Mugen walking in front of him as the man held his knee, hoping to stopsome bleeding. Whe nhe looked up he came face to face with the tip ofMugen's Claymore.

"Give?" asked Mugen, a knowing smirk playing on his lips.

This success went on for a whole week, Mugen wining his matches againstanyone who came up against him. It wasn't long before he was up to facethe 'champion' Shintaka. This job, if you wanted to call participatingin a fight club as a job, was doing pretty good for him. Any time hewon he got a part of any money made, which so far had been a lot sincehe was new. Now with this Shintaka match, he was expected to cash inlots of money since it was 'unlikely' he'd win.

He got free room and board at an Inn owned by a 'friend' of the shopkeeper who ran the club and got a lot of money since Mugen came totown. He had to admit, it was pretty good. Unlike the long journey he'dhad not too long ago with Fuu and Jin, he was able to eat almost all hewanted, and had a nice warm bed waiting for him. Kind sucked though, ifthe place had been a brothel he could have been getting a bunch of-

"Mugen " Came Yoshito, the shop keeper, barging into Mugen's room with a big grin. "Good, you're here."

"Where else am I gonna be?" He said crossing him arms, sitting upagainst the wall near a window. It was just before sundown, tonight wasgonna be his match with Shintaka.

"Well who knows," said Yoshito as he walked over to Mugen smirking,"you could have run away... You are facing the champion you know, it'snot like it hasn't happened before."

"Yeah, yeah," sighed Mugen, "don't worry, I'm not some pussy."

"Good," Yoshito put his hand on Mugen's shoulder and gave a chuckle."You and me, we're gonna be rich after tonight you know, hell, ifenough people bet we may never have to work again."

"Yeah?" Said Mugen, suddenly interested. "Never work again?" Suddenly avision of him laid out with dozens of naked women, all of which werevery well endowed, tending to him in a large house. "Daaaaamnn," hesaid, a sheepish smile going from ear to ear, a goofy laugh coming fromhim.

"Just imagine," said Yoshito, "if you win, we could end up being ableto buy a few hundred women, rent out a castle or two..." He watchedMugen's mind wonder, grinning evilly. He was playing Mugenperfectly... Poor swordsman, never knew what was waiting for him whenhe won.__

CLANG! The two swordsman stumbled past each other, the one onthe right holding his sword still, the one on the left falling to hisknees, his sword broken.

Mugen sighed, his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall waiting toenter the arena. In front of him the beaten swordsman was being draggedto the doctors, he had a pretty deep cut in his side.  
Taking in a deep breath he listened to the announcer call out Shintaka,the crowd bursting into cheers. He had to admit, though he barely payedattention to them, they sounded a lot louder today then they had beenbefore. Could this match really have drawn so many people? Oh well,didn't matter either way.

"You on, Mugen," said Yoshito, ushering Mugen towards the door.

Walking through the drawn door Mugen looked about the bleachers, thecrowd was about three times as big as any other night. He let out asigh as he looked to Shintaka, a man in dark robes with short dirtyblond hair, well built. He held a katana that seemed a bit thicker thennormal in hand, though not much different.

Grabbing his claymore Mugen drew the sword and gave a snort, "You're the champ, eh?"

"That is correct," said Shintaka as he slipped into a stand, his eyes focusing on Mugen.

"More like a chump if you ask me," said Mugen before bursting into acharge. He knew this guy was good enough to not completely waste timewith, but still... it couldn't hurt to put on a bit of a show.

Shintaka thrust his sword out at Mugen as he came within distance onlyto have it knocked down into the ground, stabbing in an inch or so asMugen vaulted over him. He landed behind Shintaka, his free handslamming against the ground and spinning, his leg slamming againstShintaka's chest, the next slamming into his cheek as he bent down.

Pushing off the ground Mugen practically spun to his feet as Shintakawent flying towards a wall. Whipping his sword to his side Mugen gave achuckle, "I hope you can handle more then that... Unless the 'Champ'is just some punk bitch."

Flipping to his feet Shintaka dusted some dirt from his attire,flipping his sword a bit before snapping into a position. "Come," wasall he said, and all he had to say to get Mugen dashing at him.

He lashed out, the two swords slamming together, though Mugen suddenlyfound his sword pushed to the side, the spine of Shintaka's swordcoming at him in a backhand. Pushing up his shoulder the sword hitMugen and sent him rolling to the side.

Stomping a foot into the ground to stop himself Mugen glared up atShintaka, "Bastard," he cursed before launching off the ground. He flewthrough the air, his body almost spiraling until he was upside down inthe air. As Shintaka went to attack Mugen parried it upward, his freehand slamming into the ground to take some of the force away as helanded upside down in front of Shintaka.

His sword stabbed up, finding it's place between Shintaka's armscausing him to stop his slash for a moment as Mugen thrust his legs up.His geta slammed hard into his chest, throwing the man up off theground a foot and back hard into a wall. With a quick spin Mugenflipped to his feet and charged at Shintaka who was already getting up.

The two swords crashed, Mugen's sliding along Shintaka's, sparks flyingout before Shintaka put his weight into the sword and pushed Mugen ontohis back. Hitting the ground Mugen's eyes flew up to Shintaka who wasbringing his sword down fast. It was moments like this he was thankfulfor not having bare feet, thrusting his foot up so his geta blocked thehit.

Mugen spun then, the sword being sent flying away from being caught inhis geta. Thrusting up his legs he flipped back to his feet, Shintakaalready trailing his sword. Mugen followed closely behind, his swordthrown back.

As Shintaka placed his hands on the sword as it stabbed out of theground and spun around, Mugen lashed out wildly, the two swords sendingoff sparks, Shintaka being pushed back for about ten steps. This lasteduntil his foot dug into the dirt ground and sent a sound of it up atMugen.

With narrowed eyes Mugen thrust his sword down hard at Shintaka, it wasthen the clump of dirt came to his path and he cut clear through it asShintaka leapt back. The dirt spread, though it seemed like most of itwas some blown to him making him wonder if his head was a vortex ofsome kind.

Quickly rubbing his eyes with his left forearm Mugen tried to clear hiseyes yet still it wasn't quite enough, yet the sound of movement forcedhim to stop it early. He turned to see a blurry figure bringing a sworddown at him and threw up his own, growling a bit as he was shakingslightly under the weight.

"Sonova bitch," he cursed before he suddenly realized something and grinned, "you just lost."

"What?" Said Shintaka, wondering if maybe Mugen has just lost his mind somehow.

Mugen said nothing more, instead he went into action. Pushing upagainst Shintaka's blade Mugen extended his arms a good bit more thenmay be normal. With a quick glance down he suddenly slid down, his legsshooting between the wide legs of Shintaka. With his sword stillagainst Shintaka's the other fighter had little to do as Mugen slippedunder him, his sword stopping as Shintaka's shins as his foot flew upand stopped just before hitting his back, a gentle tap at Shintaka'sback telling him he lost.

A laugh came from Mugen as he looked up and took the win to loosen hisgrip on his sword, wiping his eyes clean with his free hand. Shintakaon the other hand was growling and suddenly thrust his sword on theother side of Mugens and pushed it away, dashing off to a distance.

"What the hell?" Cursed Mugen, spinning around and pushing of the ground to stand. "I had you," he said with a frustrated growl.

"You shouldn't have dropped your guard," said Shintaka with a smug grin, "a win isn't official until it's announced."

"Cheating bastard," growled Mugen. "Fine, you wanna play it like that, asshole? Let's go then, fuck the rules."

Shintaka charged in at Mugen then, his blade lashing out at him. Mugenwas long gone though, seeming to have dived to the man's left andthrust his right leg hard into his side. As he bent in pain Mugen'ssword lashed out, the man's right arm being cut off cleanly.

As he let out a vicious yell of agony Mugen flipped to his feet andflipped the sword around, stabbing hard into his chest and tearing itout the side. He spun around, switching hands as it ripped out of historso and brought it back, this time the blade going cleanly throughhis neck, his head rolling on the ground a moment later.

"Cheat now," spat Mugen as he whipped his sword to the side, the blood on it flying to the ground.

It was then something caught his eye in the bleachers, some movementthat seemed to go against the others. Most were silent in shock, but asmall group seemed to be spreading out, one man seeming to be gaspingfor breath. As he leaned his head in close to see what was happening abang went off to his side, something whizzing past him and taking a fewstrands of hair with it.

Mugen froze, his heard craning slowly towards the bang, as most peoplein the room seemed to be doing. There in the doorway was a goon whoMugen knew was Yoshito's, a rifle in his hands aimed for Mugen's head.

"O-Oh shit," he said, his body and voice shaking.

"Oh shit's right, buddy," said Mugen as he charged at the goon. He was drawing close when-_BOOM!_ A grenade suddenly went off, a section of the bleachers was ablaze while another part was filled with people fighting.

"A RAID!" Came a scream from the path leading to the store front, Mugencould see people filing in swiftly, though not as many as he'd imaginefor a big police raid.

He watched these people working through the crowd for a moment thenheard the sound of a musket being reloaded beside him. His eyes shiftedto the gunner before him and he smirked, his sword lashing out andcutting the barrel in half, "You're not clear yet, dipshit." The goonturned to run but stopped when the claymore was thrust through hischest, lingering for a moment before being torn out.

Mugen looked around and thought of what to do. That double crossingbastard Yoshito wouldn't be lingering about, he'd probably head for atunnel that was supposed to lead out instead of stay and fight. Butfighting these guys did seem to have a chance of being pretty damn fun."Damn it," he sighed. "Well... I'll have plenty of times to mess withpolice..." With that he turned on his heel and ran for the door on theother side of the arena.

Just as he was about to enter it a figure hit the ground with a softthud and spun around, a short sword seeming to appear from nothing andlash out at him. Quick to throw up his sword and defend Mugen blockedand parried, throwing out a foot at the attacker. They flipped over itand landed to Mugen's right, their short sword coming back as theyslipped into a position to thrust it into his chest. When they did hecaught the blade easily in the center of his claymore, fighting to keepit from slipping to either side and stab him.

Then a yell came from above, "...Yatsuha!"

Mugen's mind snapped a bit, the name familiar to him. He looked to theattacker and found it was a kunoichi with dark hair and brown eyes, abeautiful face and a voluptuous body, the part most striking Mugen'smemory was her chest. This was the woman he'd met while in thered-light district some time ago, a Shogunate ninja who'd been actingas a geisha.

"You," he said with surprise evident about him.

She looked up and her eyes widened, her mouth dropping, "Mugen!"

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**I will post the next chapter laterz ppl :) **


	2. Chapter 2

**I DON'T OWN SAMURAI CHAMPLOO. **

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Staring at the woman before him Mugen let out a growl, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Arresting a wanted murder," said Yatsuha, shock still on her face. "What are you doing here?"

"Making some money... And about to go rip apart a betraying son of abitch," he growled, grabbing her arm hard and throwing her aside, shewas blocking the door. With a single kick the door came down, Mugen quickly ducked into it and moved to the door beneath the bleachers.

Suddenly the bleahers once covering the door were blown away, Mugenthrowing up an arm and looking out the gaping hole. A body droppeddown, a black-clothed figure leaping down and lashing out at Mugen.

"You wanna fight?" Asked Mugen as he threw up his claymore to block theshort sword, "Alright, let's fight " He pushed the sword hard to theman's left and spun around, ducking beneath a backhand and sweeping theninja's legs out. As he hit the ground the hilt of Mugen's swordcrashed into the ninja's neck.

A flash to his left caused him to fall back, a sword rushing pasthaving hit his neck if he hadn't ducked. His sword flew up and made theninja who'd come in leap out the hole in the bleachers. He turnedquickly to block an attack from one of Yoshito's guards. He was havinga hard time getting clear of the large man.

Suddenly the force that was being pressed against the ninja's shortsword died away as the guard's arms fell off, Mugen growling as hegrabbed the guy's neck. "WHERE IS YOSHITO?" When the guy only screamedMugen thrust his sword into the guard's gut and ripped it out of theside, swinging it up towards the ninja who flipped away to avoid it.

He charged after him, the entire room a mess of mayhem when suddenlythe door to the tunnel Yoshito had escaped in was blown away, a ball offire barreling out of it, the ninja who Mugen had knocked down justbarely making it out in time. Mugen stumbled to a stop and glanced backwith a scowl, "Shit," was all he could say before a ninja charged athim.

Throwing up his sword to block a stab Mugen pushed the ninja backsending him falling down a few levels of stairs. When he was back up onhis feet he had to duck under a swipe from Mugen, leaping up thensuddenly to avoid a sweep from the ex-pirate. Suddenly as he hung inthe air Mugen's sweep stopped mid-way and he pushed off the ground,flipping back and slamming a foot hard into the small of the ninja'sback.

Back on his feet he heard the ninja crash through the bleachers behindhim, running for the path that would lead back to the street, he knewYoshito was gone and had sent off a explosives in the tunnel. He wasout already, and working up to the store across the town, preparing tobolt from town.

A group in front of him was fighting and one of the Yakuza spun around,throwing something at Mugen which he leapt up, his legs spreading wide,to avoid it. As he hit the ground and started running again a grenadewent off behind him, throwing him off balance for a moment before hecame to the Yakuza and slashed up through his torso, his blood justmissing Mugen who spun around the male to avoid being hit.

Falling then Mugen seemed to slide beneath two slashed from a pair ofninja, throwing up his legs and hitting a ninja and Yakuza who wereclashing sword. As they fell back he flipped to his feet and tiltedsome, his sword going behind him to block an attack from one of theninja pair.

Throwing back a foot he hit one in the gut causing him to double over,the other using it as leverage to leap frog over him and up into theair at Mugen, sword poised to strike. Thinking quickly Mugen's freehand grabbed the strap around his chest holding his sheath and pulledit hard. The sheath swung from his back to covering his shoulder whichMugen positioned to take the blow.

When the sword hit his hand slipped away and grabbed the ninja's,turning it pulling him down as Mugen fell back, his other leg slamminginto his side and cracking a rib or two. He rolled over and left theninja there as he pushed off the ground and sped off towards theentrance.

Along the way a group of Yakuza spotted him and charged in, his eyesfocused more on the Entrance only feet away. The first came and hissword lashed out, cutting through the first chest, all the way up tohis neck where it suddenly stabbed all the way through and was torn outthe side. The next came and Mugen ducked under his attack, grabbing hisarm as he passed him and twisting a bit when he stood, his sword comingdown and cutting into his torso.

It was stuck for a moment but Mugen left it there, switching to grab itwith his right arm, the sword almost dragging along the ground beforehe rushed to the next and threw up his arm, the Sword cut deep throughthe guy's chest, Mugen flipping the sword back to normal and cuttingdown it as he passed the guy.

The final one came at him fast, thrusting his sword at Mugen who leaptup, a foot slamming into the sword and pushing it down as he came backto the ground, his sword digging into the Yakuza's shoulder. Ripping itfree Mugen dashed for the exit.

He slipped though the threshold and charged up the stairs, his eyeswildly scanning for any ninjas, sword ready to lash out. He came to thestairs end and threw up the hatch, leaping up into the store's backroom, pushing through the drawn curtains and rushing out the front door.

He came to a halt, sliding a bit, his feet trying to slam into theground and slow him down. Outside the store was a line of policemen, afew of which seemed to have rifles aimed at Mugen, others drawing theirswords. His eyes went back and forth, going through every possiblescenario he could think of. About half way through the first scenariohe gave up. "_Screw it_," he thought, "_I can take them either way_."As he went to slide into a fighting stance something hit him hard inthe back of his neck and everything went black as his body hit theground.

He was thrust back into reality when he was thrown into a room, fallingover a chair and hitting the ground. A hand wrapped around his dullwhite shirt then and he was pulled up, a fist slamming into his cheekhard.

"Yakuza Scum," hissed a rather tall male, long black hair tied back into a top-knot, "where is Yoshito going?"

"Like I know-" Before he could finish he was punched again. "Shit," hespat out blood and glared up to the guy holding him. "Maybe he went togo fuck your wife, I know she was down at the brothel giving freebies-"A fist in his gut knocked the wind out of him.

He was thrown hard into a wall as the male let out a vicious growl,"Bastard " He ran over to Mugen laying on the ground and kicked himhard in the side. As he kicked him again Mugen threw out a leg andsweep the guy down, his head slamming into a table at the center of theroom.

Mugen began to move like a worm across the floor towards the door wherehe'd came in. As he came to the door it opened and he looked up, ashort male staring at him. "Son of a-" was all Mugen got out before afoot slammed into his head and he was knocked out a moment later.

When his eyes opened again sometime later he was surprised to see abright light shining down on him. "Finally up?" Came a male's voice.Blinking his eyes until he was used to the light Mugen looked to thespeaker.

It was a male with dark hair and long sideburns, a bandana wrappedaround his head, his hair kept back in a short ponytail. Just below hisleft eye-"Oh shit," said Mugen, drawing his head back at the large moleon the man's face. "You could hit that from the sea," he said with asnort.

"Ha, ha," he said frowning some, "very funny..."

"Don't let him get to you," came another voice. Mugen shifted his eyesand rolled his head a bit when he realized it was Yatsuha. "He's justmad cause we caught him, Otawa..."

"Hm," was all the young man said, crossing his arms and looking skeptically as Yatsuha turned to Mugen.

"So what were you doing there, Mugen? You a Yakuza now or something?"

"Psh," Mugen tilted his head back, adjusting his hands which were tiedbehind the chair's back a bit. "If I was a Yakuza I wouldn't befighting chumps like that. I'd be the boss by now."

"Are you?"

Looking at Yatsuha Mugen raised a brow, "Do you think if I was the bossI'd get caught?" Giving a soft sigh Yatsuha shook her head, she knewhim enough to know he wouldn't have been. "Exactly," he said with asmirk, "I was just trying to make some extra money. Since I was new andwinning against the big guys, I got tons of doe."

"So you were working for Yoshito Nigishi?" She said crossing her armson the table and laying her head on it, eyeing Mugen a bit.

"Basically we were...uh," said Mugen, his eyes lingering over Yatsuhafor a moment before he snapped back to reality, "um, we were kinda likepartners. I got half the money we won, he got the other half. But thebastard sent a goon to shoot me just before you assholes busted in.Betrayed me cause the money coming in today would have been enough toretire on... Bastard beat me to it."

"Why you telling us so much, Mugen?" Asked Otawa, interested a bit.

"Cause," sighed Mugen, "I already could have beat the shit outta youtwo," he placed the ropes that had moments before been around his wriston the table and leaned in a bit, "but I suspect you're gonna go afterYoshito... I want in."

Otawa and Yatsuha stared at Mugen, both of their jaws open wide. Otawa was thinking, "_What is this guy_?"

Yatsuha on the other hand was staring at Mugen, her eyes shining as she thought to herself, "_I'm_ **so** _gonna marry him_!"

"I wanna tear that bastards head off, and since your group seems to beable to find people pretty fast, this'll be the fastest path to him."Mugen glanced over to Yatsuha, noticing the look in her eyes before sheshook her head and cleared her throat. "I just want my revenge, thenyou can do whatever you want to me."

"Yeah?" Otawa was surprised by the last bit, he doubted if Mugen wasmuch help they'd try to keep him, but he figured there was no pointtelling him this right now.

"You have a deal," said Yatsuha, standing and smiling brightly at Mugen.

"Good," he said looking up to her and glancing over to Otawa.

---

Laying there in his room, Mugen let out a deep sigh, his sword laying afew feet away, his arms crossed, pillowing his head. With his crimsonjacket back he wore it open, his geta beside his sword.

Because he was going to be used to help the Ninja track down Yoshitoand take him down they let him stay at an Inn where most of the otherswere staying. They told him that he couldn't leave, and that if hewanted something he had to go to another room and ask someone forsomething.

Closing his eyes he thought in frustration about the bastard betrayinghim, though he couldn't really blame him, Mugen would have done thesame thing if it really was enough money to retire. Hell, he'd done alot more for a lot less.

The sliding of his door made him open his eyes again, looking up hefound Yatsuha closing the door behind her, a small smile playing on herlips as she turned to face Mugen. "What're you doing here?" He askedpropping himself up on his elbows.

"I thought I'd come to check on you," she said walking over. As shestopped and knelt a foot or so away from him her hand went behind herand pulled a pouch from her belt. She opened it and tossed a small caseat Mugen.

He caught it and looked the case over, a small cylinder with a screwoff cap. Inside was a gelly-looking substance, "What the hell is this?"

She looked to the bruise on his cheek and smirked, "I thought thatmight have hurt you, and I know you probably have one on your bodysomewhere... That stuff makes it heal quicker if you rub it on thebruise."

Glancing up at her then looking back down at the gel he nodded hishead, "Yeah, thanks." Closing it again he placed it beside him and laidback, his arms going under his head. He waited to hear her leave butshe didn't move.

There was a long silence, Mugen staring up at the ceiling as Yatsuhastared at the floor, a knee held close to her while the other wascrossed beneath it. "...It was surprising... seeing you again likethat... I didn't even know if was you at first... but when I saw you,I couldn't believe it."

A smirk on his lips Mugen gave a small snort, "Yeah... I tend to dothat to women sometimes. My good looks just blow their minds."

For the first time he'd heard her give a small laugh, her eyes closingas he glanced over to her, he could have sworn he saw her cheeks turnpink but it was gone quickly. "Not that," she said, thinking how he waspretty good looking though, "I couldn't believe I was meeting youagain."

"I made an impression last time, eh?" He said propping himself up again.

"You could say that," admitted Yatsuha, her eyes opening and lookingsheepishly to Mugen. "I always had a feeling we'd meet up again, thoughwhen I was done with my quest, and you were done traveling with yourfriends."

Suddenly Mugen's expression dropped some, "Yeah... I'm already donetraveling with them." He fell back and slipped his arms under his headwith a sigh. "I left those two a few weeks ago, they were toobothersome."

She knew it was a lie the moment he said it, a solemn smile showing onher face. Apparently the people he's been traveling with had meantsomething to him, he'd looked as if she'd brought up a dead relative orsomething. "Well then I suppose my prediction was half right."

"I guess..."

Looking Mugen over for a moment she realized something definitely wasdifferent about him, something had changed in him since she'd left himthat day long ago. What could have done this? Could something havehappened during his travels or before he'd left his companions?

Suddenly she realized he was propped up on his elbows looking at her."Yo," he said lazily, "are you gonna keep that promise of yours fromlast time or what?" A loud bang filled the room as Yatsuha slammed apouch full of supplies into his head and stormed out of the room,slamming the door shut behind her with a huff.

Staring at the door, watching Yatsuha's shadow as she walked down thehall to her room Mugen grinned. When he fell and rested his head hesighed, closing his eyes peacefully, "Tease."

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**Chapter 3 will be up soon. **


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